Posted on 12/29/2021 5:57:37 AM PST by Red Badger
A summary of decades of research on a rather 'out-there' idea involving viruses from space raises questions on just how scientific we can be when it comes to speculating on the history of life on Earth.
It's easy to throw around words like crackpot, rogue, and maverick in describing the scientific fringe, but then papers like this one, from 2018, come along and leave us blinking owlishly, unsure of where to even begin.
A total of 33 names were listed as authors on this review, which was published by Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology back in August 2018. The journal is peer reviewed and fairly well cited. So it's not exactly small, or a niche pay-for-publish source.
Science writer Stephen Fleischfresser goes into depth on the background of two of the better known scientists involved: Edward Steele and Chandra Wickramasinghe. It's well worth a read.
For a tl;dr version, Steele is an immunologist who has a fringe reputation for his views on evolution that relies on acquiring gene changes determined by the influence of the environment rather than random mutations, in what he calls meta-Lamarckism.
Wickramasinghe, on the other hand, has had a somewhat less controversial career, recognized for empirically confirming Sir Fred Hoyle's hypothesis describing the production of complex carbon molecules on interstellar dust.
Wickramasinghe and Hoyle also happened to be responsible for another space biology thesis. Only this one is based on more than just the origins of organic chemistry.
The Hoyle Wickramasinghe (H-W) thesis of Cometary (Cosmic) Biology makes the rather simple claim that the direction of evolution has been significantly affected by biochemistry that didn't start on our planet.
In Wickramasinghe's own words, "Comets are the carriers and distributors of life in the cosmos, and life on Earth arose and developed as a result of cometary inputs."
Those inputs, Wickramasinghe argued, aren't limited to a generous sprinkling of space-baked amino acids, either.
Rather, they include viruses that insert themselves into organisms, pushing their evolution into whole new directions.
The report, titled "Cause of Cambrian Explosion – Terrestrial or Cosmic?", pulls on existing research to conclude that a rain of extra-terrestrial retroviruses played a key role in the diversification of life in our oceans roughly half a billion years ago.
"Thus retroviruses and other viruses hypothesized to be liberated in cometary debris trails both can potentially add new DNA sequences to terrestrial genomes and drive further mutagenic change within somatic and germline genomes," the authors wrote.
Let that sink in for a moment. And take a deep breath before continuing, because that was the tame part.
It was during this period that a group of mollusks known as cephalopods first stretched out their tentacles from beneath their shells, branching into a stunning array of sizes and shapes in what seemed like a remarkably short time frame.
The genetics of these organisms, which today include octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish, are as weird as the animals themselves, due in part to their ability to edit their DNA on the fly.
The authors of the paper make the rather audacious claim that these genetic oddities might be a sign of life from space.
Not of space viruses this time, but the arrival of whole genomes frozen in stasis before thawing out in our tepid waters.
"Thus the possibility that cryopreserved squid and/or octopus eggs, arrived in icy bolides several hundred million years ago should not be discounted," they wrote.
In his review of the paper, medical researcher Keith Baverstock from the University of Eastern Finland conceded that there's a lot of evidence that plausibly aligns with the H-W thesis, such as the curious timeline of the appearance of viruses.
But that's just not how science advances.
"I believe this paper justifies skepticism of the scientific value of stand alone theories of the origin of life," Baverstock argued at the time.
"The weight of plausible, but non-definitive, evidence, great though that might be, is not the point."
While the idea is as novel and exciting as it is provocative, nothing in the summary helps us better understand the history of life on Earth any better than existing conjectures, adding little of value to our model of evolution.
Still, with solid caveats in place, maybe science can cope with a generous dose of crazy every now and then.
Journal editor Denis Noble concedes that 'further research is needed', which is a bit of an understatement.
But given the developments regarding space-based organic chemistry in recent years, there's room for discussion.
"As space chemistry and biology grows in importance it is appropriate for a journal devoted to the interface between physics and biology to encourage the debates," said Noble.
"In the future, the ideas will surely become testable."
Just in case those tests confirm speculations, we recommend being well prepared for the return of our cephalopod overlords. Who knows when they'll want those eggs back?
This research was published in Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology.
A version of this article was first published in August 2018.
Wow.
Thanks! I’ll write them down.
YES, the Resurrection was the “Boss Move” that validated EVERYTHING.
“For if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is useless; you are still in your sins. Furthermore, those who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished. For if only in this life we have hope in Christ, we should be pitied more than anyone. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”
— I Corinthians 15:16-21
That entire chapter is well worth reading.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2015&version=NET
There. Fixed it.
'Face
;o]
I’ll try one of those tomorrow. I have a few regular starter words I use that have three vowels.
Amen to that.
Iknowhuh?
Agree completely!
THanks for the reference.
Indeed!
I have been pouring over it since it was linked...
I am particularly fascinated by that version (New English Translation), I never used it before...
The New English is less literary, and I don’t always like the way they choose to render a word or phrase, but it absolutely shines in the sheer blizzard of footnotes included. Difficult word choices and phrasings are explained with other options given, a rationale for each, and references to other scholarly sources on the specific subject, all of which gives the reader a more complete view of the translators’ task, and builds a more broad comprehension of the text. One might still think a different word choice is the better one, but the perspective gained reading the footnotes enable that opinion to be much more fully-informed.
I stick with the KJV, because it’s as close to the original translations as a Bible can be. So much is lost (or gained) in the newer versions. I know it’s easier for people to understand the simplified versions, but the KJV is beautiful.
Kitteh Saturday is gonna be rainy agin!
Good morning. I hope you slept well.
I didn’t sleep through the alarm but I didn’t jump out of bed when it rang, either. Unngh. Forty-five minutes later...
So now I have to get dressed, take my pills and get something to eat. Not necessarily in that order.
Walmart day. Nothing else of any import will be done because it takes so much out of me. If I could just go early some weekday morning!
I tried one of those words and I would have been better off using the one I always use.
Wordle 301 5/6
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
⬜⬜🟩🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Good morning. Jake insisted I get up around 5:15. When sitting on me didn’t work, he started attacking things in the room.
It’s looking like rain here today. Shannon spewed. We have choir at 10:00 and then nothing else scheduled.
Yes, I noticed the incredible amount of footnotes... very educational version!
I am used to using both the NKJV and the NIV.
Good Morning!
I used one of my set of starters that I hadn’t used in some time... it only eliminated all of the letters! lol
Wordle 301 4/6
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
🟨⬛⬛⬛🟨
🟨🟨⬛⬛🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
(The 2nd and 3rd rows dictated the middle 3 letters by inference.)
I got side-tracked checking emails and such, and here I sit, an hour or so later, wondering where the time went. I won’t be checking other sites again until much later in the day.
Sorry about Jake’s tantrum and Shannon’s spewing on the floor. I’ve noticed my floors get very sticky when the days are rainy. Today’s storms are coming out of the northwest instead of the southwest. I have no idea what that means, just that it’s different.
Of course, now, I’m waiting for the text to tell me the Other Folks will be here “in a few minutes.” That usually means about 20...
I have a Bible collection, so I have a lot of different versions. Some are old and well used, so I try not to open them too often. I think I have about 50, though I haven’t counted them since I unpacked them. And I still have to shift some stuff before I can actually get to the bookcases without mountain climbing gear. ;o]
But the one I use on a daily basis is the KJV. We’re studying the Old Testament this year, so it’s fun to read. Lots of footnotes and Bible dictionary references in this edition.
Good job!
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